It Happened One Night

CHAPTER 12: We Did What?







Hermione groaned and opened her eyes slowly. Her head was spinning and her stomach was a bit upset as she looked around the unfamiliar room. Remus was beside her, his face turned away from her and one arm thrown over her naked torso.





“Remus, wake up.” She said, her voice rough as she nudged his side with her elbow.





“Hmmm?” He muttered.







“Where are we?” She asked, looking around the room decorated in Victorian furniture and white eyelet with splashes of pink everywhere. Remus moaned softly and lifted his head to look around for a moment before letting it fall back onto the pillow.





“We’re at an inn.” He said into the pillow.





“But where and how did we get here?” Her last clear memory was of talking to Ron after the match at Harry and Ginny’s. From that point her memories were fuzzy at best. Remus shifted in the bed so that he was leaning against the headboard, his head pounding as he looked out the window.





“I have no idea. Last thing I remember was watching you talk to Ron and wanting to bite him.” He said grouchily. Hermione’s eyes widened for a moment at his admission and she laughed, then she groaned when it made her head pound. “Do you think we decided to take a trip while we were pissed?” He asked, looking out the window at the barren landscape and gray skies.





“Apparently. Wonder where we decided to go?” She reached for Remus’s shirt draped over the bedpost and pulled it on before making her way into the bathroom. She did her business, brushed her teeth with the complimentary supplies provided and drank a glass of water before going back into the room.





Remus was standing at the bedside in his trousers reading some papers, a shocked look on his face.





“Well I know where we are now.” He said softly. “We are in Scotland.”





“Oh, wonder what made us decide to come here? You would think we would go someplace warm. Where in Scotland?” She asked, searching for her clothes. They had apparently undressed in a hurry and thrown their things about without a thought, too bad she couldn’t really remember it.





“Gretna Green actually. It seems we not only decided to take a trip, but we decided to elope as well.” Remus said, reaching across the mattress to hand her the papers he had been reading.







“We did what?” Hermione took the papers and read over the marriage license and certificate. “Oh my god, Remus! We got married!” Hermione’s head began to pound all the more. “Do you remember getting the license or the ceremony?” She asked, looking over at him with wide eyes.





“No, but apparently we bought a package and have photos and a video of the blessed event.” He said, holding up a white satin box covered in ribbon and lace. “Shall we have a look?”



Remus sat on the side of the bed and put the box in the center while Hermione crawled onto the mattress beside him. He lifted the lid and scooped out a handful of digital photos that had been printed off of a computer. They shifted through them slowly and with each photo they saw the events unfold. Them standing at the altar exchanging vows, kissing to seal those vows and posing together afterwards with drunken smiles on their faces.





“Oh god what are we going to do?” She asked suddenly noticing the thin gold bands on their fingers. “Can we have it annulled?”





“I don’t think so, I am pretty sure the marriage was consummated……in fact I have a vague recollection of us in the loo at the chapel.” Remus said, frowning slightly as vague images of the previous night began to come back to him.







“Oh surely we didn’t do it in a chapel…….oh god we did do it in the chapel….I remember a little……..” Hermione groaned and covered her face with her hands.







“And I know for a fact that we did it again when we got here…I have scratches on my back and the full moon is still two weeks away.” Remus said, reclining back into the pillows and staring at the ring on his finger in amazement.





“Why would we do this, Remus? Why would we just decide to get married on a whim even if we were intoxicated?” She asked, sliding back to recline against the pillows beside him.





“That may have been my fault.” He said softly. “When I saw you talking to Ron the Alpha in me went on alert. That was why I had the urge to bite him, I felt as though he were encroaching on my territory….”





“Your territory? What are you saying, Remus, that you were jealous so you decided to marry me to keep Ron away? You marked me as yours by marrying me; the way a wolf might pee on a tree to mark his area?” She asked, staring at him in disbelief. He at least had the grace to blush. “Oh my god, that’s exactly what you did!”





“It wasn’t as bad as you make it sound! It’s not like I saw you two talking and though I better marry her and keep her from other men……at least I don’t think I did, it’s all still a little fuzzy.” He admitted sheepishly.







“What are we going to do?” She asked him. She wanted to be angry at him but from the looks of them in the photographs she was a willing participant.







“What do you want to do?” He asked her. He knew what he wanted, had known for a little while that he was in love with her, his wolf had already recognized her as his mate, but he was well aware that Hermione was skittish about a commitment.







“I don’t know….I never imagined me in this situation.” She said. She looked over at Remus and her heart stuttered. Why did the idea of possibly ending a marriage she couldn’t even remember bother her so much?







“Do you think I would be a bad husband?” He asked. Hermione felt so small in that moment. Was he feeling rejected? She took his hand and raised his arm so she could slide beneath it to snuggle into his chest. Remus kissed the top of her head and hugged her close.







“Not at all, do you think I would make a bad wife?” She asked. She had assumed that she and Ron would marry eventually, but he never asked. She always seemed to do everything wrong with him. She didn’t dress well enough, she didn’t wear makeup or do her hair right, she was too bookish; she couldn’t do anything to please him.







“I think that the man who can call you wife would be the luckiest man alive.” He said, stroking her arm gently.







“Then apparently you are the luckiest man alive because I am legally your wife as of nine o’clock last night.” She said.







“For now.” He said, somewhat sadly. He figured she wouldn’t waste any time beginning the divorce proceedings.





“In a hurry to be single again?” She asked. “Do we have to make a decision about it right away? I mean we are sort of a couple anyhow, does that piece of paper change that or how we feel about each other?”







“No, that piece of paper doesn’t change anything.” Remus wanted to jump up and howl his relief. He knew that it was the wolf that had pushed him to claim his mate and marry her without regard to their inability to make a rational decision. He hoped that maybe he could get her to fall in love with him before he lost her.







“Then let’s just leave it alone for now.” She said, pressing her face into the side of his neck. “Kiss your wife, Remus.”